Church role in ending police strike queried

The Church has been forced to defend its role in the ending of a police strike over pay last month, after the governor of one of the provinces worst affected by the associated looting has refused to honour a deal the Church helped to broker.

Sergio Urribarri, the governor of Entre Rios, has admitted there are no funds to pay increased wages and claims he was intimidated into signing the agreement. He has now declared it null.

The Church played a prominent role in negotiations between the local government and the police department. A statement from the office of the Bishop of Concordia, who was present when the agreement was signed, said last weekend that “while we were present there was no indication that any party was under pressure to sign”.

A local government minister responded saying that a priest, Fr José Zabaleta, who was also present, had told him “that if the Government didn’t approve a US$1,500 [monthly] pay rise there would be a blood bath in Concordia”.

The statement from Bishop Luis Collazuol’s office emphasised that both the governor and the police had asked the bishop to help resolve the conflict, adding that only a judge can nullify the agreement.

The situation in Entre Rios was this week described as tense as the police prepared to go on strike again.

Meanwhile, the Bishop of La Rioja, Marcelo Colombo, has warned that “nobody should think of public office as a way to get rich”. In a homily last weekend the bishop said if politicians behaved with “nobility and honesty” they could change lives.

He called on them to see their job as “a service that calls for generosity and self-sacrifice on behalf of all citizens, especially the poor and the young”.